What home improvement work did you do today?

Anything less than 2” overlay requires some stupid expensive specialty materials and equally stupidly expensive prep or it will just crack and spall. Especially anywhere with potential for freeze/the cycles. At that point, you’re better fully replacing - they likely have little/no reinforcing in that slab and busting it up would be “quick” work with a couple of skid steers and a hydraulic jack hammer. But it would still cost the contractor money

it’s a shit finishing job and never should’ve been poured in the rain without proper protection. If they cut corners like that, who knows what other issues they glossed over with that slab. Stay on them - they will hope you may give up or go away.

 

There are two guarantees with concrete:

1. It will get hard
2. It will crack

The amount of reinforcing will determine whether those cracks shift /open/ cause problems

 

That’s a difference in mix design. Concrete doesn’t “dry” - it cures through a chemical reaction that actually requires a certain amount of water… humidity improves the efficiency of that process (but not flooding it with water, which actually washes away the Portland cement that is the binder reacting with the moisture to harden the concrete).

Nominal concrete designs reach “full” (design) strength after 21-28 days - but different mix designs will reach a designated minimum percentage (typically 75%) in a shorter period from 4-14 days by increasing the Portland cement content relative to the total volume of materials, as well as other additives for various purposes - such as retarders to slow the “flash off” in hot dry weather that can cause it to be difficult to finish, or moisture binders to prevent it from drying out before it can actually cure, or plasticizers to make it more fluid without adding too much water (the water to cement ratio has a pretty narrow window where there is enough to cure the concrete without so much that it weakens the concrete).

The actual strength is proven by taking specific samples at the time of pouring and breaking those samples in special test equipment to confirm compressive strength at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days (unless full design strength is reached by an earlier sample). In cases of super fast schedules with high-early concrete, they may also do breaks at 3 or 4 days - a minimum of 75% of design strength is required before the structure can be released to be worked on for next steps like anchoring steel or supporting loads.

Of course, the sort of load imposed by simple yard and garden framing needs are much different than those used for large structural slabs and columns/beams, but the difference in whether the concrete is strong enough to allow drilling in wedge anchors without prematurely cracking or spalling is a result of the amount of portland cement and water used in the actual mix - sounds like your OR coast slab was more like a “3 sack” mix that the contractor added a lot of extra water to so that his job was easier to pour (it runs like pea soup) while the Vegas slabs were a 4 or 5 sack mix with closer to optimum water/cement ratio.

Yeah - I nerd out on this shit. I spent years as an engineer and project manager on large structural concrete projects.

 

Dammmmn. You just went full on @GODZILLA mode on me w/that one

I have no idea on the "bags" as it was delivered by cement truck in both cases. But, it sounds like @WAtundra4x4 needs to hire you as an expert witness to battle his contractor.

 

Thanks for the reinforcement of my thoughts a replacement is the only way.
On our patio extension, we had several estimates and ideas. One guy who was a concrete contractor first comments were tha driveway was crap, as well as our patio.
They did replace a driveway on a home up the street, their driveway was spalling.
I’ve noticed recently they have been covering the driveways totally with plastic, till it’s cured days later.

 

This is the right way - holds in the moisture and protects it from rain damage.

 

“Bag” or “sack” is a reference to the amount of Portland Cement (PC) per cubic yard of concrete - a sack is 90lbs of Portland Cement. It’s not exact because of other factors, but each sack roughly equates to 1000psi compressive strength in the final cured concrete - 3 sack is approx 3000psi concrete (minimum for slabs and non structural concrete). 5 sack is approx 5000psi strength. But adding too much water to the mix will weaken that and cause it to cure slowly as well.

 

So... doesn't matter how many cubic yards I order, 5 sack is 5000psi regardless and the actual mix may actually containing 100 sacks (if I ordered 20 cubic yards) Did I get that right???

PS>>Does Portland Cement actually come from Portland??? Sorry, I had to ask

 

Yes, it is sacks per cubic yard so 10 yards (a full truck) of a 5-sack mix would use 4500lbs of Portland cement (they measure it by weight, not by actual sacks). The rest of the volume is sand, aggregate, and water.

4-sack is the most common for foundations, walls and slabs that need structural strength, 3-sack is usually used for driveways and walkways, and 5-sack is mostly used in special situations or high strength applications…it can cost a lot more and “goes off” fast (without a lot of retarders that bring the price up even more) - we used it primarily for water-holding structures like tanks, cooling tower basins, etc. because it has a finer slurry that flowed better into the forms and resulted in less pockets in complex structures when honeycomb or voids mean leaks and are expensive to fix.

As for where it comes from - it is made all over, but originally:
Its name is derived from its resemblance to Portland stone which was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. (Wikipedia)

 

OK, now you are nerding out

 

Flattered you think I'm half as smart as Casey. I promise, I am not.

 

Do you have a pic showing the edge at entrance to garage?

 

I put in the soffit vent for the Master Bath exhaust fan today. I bought this thing called an "EZSoffitVent" that was anything but. It's more for new builds or normal houses that have paneled soffit vents. Mine is shiplap, of course, so there was no removing it.

Initially wanted to just drill a hole in the soffit and cut with my jigsaw but I realized I really had no room. Ended up purchasing an upgraded drill (a Bosch Promaster) and a 6 3/8" hole saw. All in all, it went a lot smoother than I had thought.

 

and you got a new tool too!

 

That's always a bonus!

 

Nicely done!!

 

The gutter on the front slants to the right but the rest is because of me. Apparently I lean to the right.

The floors do lean to the left or to the right depending on what room you are in so I believe it all balances out.

The old girl is 128 years old so I give her some slack.

 

Today, we finished removing 400 tons of eucalyptus and pine trees that came crashing down across our driveway, and other parts of our property. California has been enduring an atmospheric river of storms for weeks on end that have caused widespread flooding and property damage. We were not spared. $12,000 later, the biggest trees are gone, our driveway is re-opened, and we are safe again. But I still have another $6000 to go to remove a few more trees that also fell farther out. And probably $25,000 to remove several trees that need to go before they fall on my house.

 

Dang, that sucks. Cheaper to wait till the next round of forest fires burn all the downed wood. Kidding of course. If it ain’t a drought it’s a flood. Crazy times. Hope everyone is ok.

 

Oh don’t say that. We live on the edge of a forest with a ton of eucalyptus that the previous owner planted mixed into the oaks and pines that are natural here. Euc oil is like kerosene. God help us if this place lights up. We’re screwed. We’d lose absolutely everything. I’ve done the best I can to ensure a 30 foot clearing around the house; trim off all branches below 15 feet; etc. But there’s not much that can be done in California. Our fires are the finger of God.

 

I hear that. At least your local municipality allows you to clear your land as you see fit. Aside from the carnage, the pics look it’s a beautiful area.

 

There may be certain things I haven’t told the county We’re in semi ag rural areas of the hills east of San Francisco. Last I checked they don’t have rules or fees on removing the trees, with the exception that I’m supposed to plan 5 new ones for every tree I remove. Or something like that. I recall it was not a 1:1 ratio. Since our beautiful driveway is now barren of all those towering trees, I’ll plant a bunch of beautiful and hopefully drought tolerant trees that won’t grow to freaking 150 foot giants. Maybe some Crepe Myrtle or something.

 

I'd plant 5 Bonzai trees for every tree removed, Daniel San.

 

Last November we had an inspector check our house out. Being a new home, we had our issues…. Anyways, the inspector found a surprise ONLY in the area above the attached garage. That being some black mold. He suggested hiring a specialist to check it out. It was confirmed to be in that one area. Both inspections did not find any leaks. Speculation the wood was wet during that build. We filed a warranty claim and the builder had his people do the remediation. It involved removing all the bad insulation. Inspection for leaks by roofing co. No leaks. Followed by a week of drying. Then they treated it twice with bleach over three days. Then Drying out again for 2.5 weeks. Today they took the heaters and blowers out. Yea! Inspect in a week again and then redo insulation. Photos from the November inspection and a couple of my photos today. Looks like it worked.

 

Ours was built in 1890, you should see our hallway, looks like the twilight zone thing where no door way aligns.

 

I was telling my wife last night that even though this house needs a lot of upkeep, I absolutely love it. The shiplap in the attic and over the soffit is about an inch thick. I saw where someone accidentally drilled into one of the support beams up there to put in the AC drip line and the beam was 6-8 inches thick. These houses may be crooked but they are stout as hell.

 

Contractor is coming back tomorrow to fix some issues and will be applying the Polycuramine over the edge of the entrance.

 

I would never accept that ! I would make them tear it out and redo it